Man of Many Costumes: Waco resident and his dog spread joy, one character at a time
By Heather Healy
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WACO, Texas (KXXV) — It’s a journey that began about four years ago.
“It started as a joke — I put on a Grinch onesie, go ride around town and everybody took pictures,” Russell Homeyer said.
“I bought a Grinch suit, that way we could actually start it, I guess.”
Russell Homeyer and his dog, Baby Girl, are Waco locals.
“Oh yeah, she rides with me everywhere — we’re always together.”
The duo rides through the streets of Waco as many characters.
“I have a Baylor Bear costume for game days, I have a Mario suit, I have the Grinch suit, the Easter Bunny suit, one for Fourth of July, pirate suit — it’s a bunch,” Homeyer said.
Homeyer has the the hope to spread joy to the community.
“Basically, I’ve got to find what goes with the holidays that’s coming up, you know, and I find a suit on a website or wherever I’m getting it from,” Homeyer said.
“I order my suits within a month from the holiday — I’ll put them on and be going out.”
He doesn’t charge anything for pictures or videos taken by others — he does this out of the goodness of his heart.
“Everybody smiles — it’s all smiles, jaws drop, cameras come out with people waving, honking everywhere I go,” Homeyer said.
“That’s what it’s all about — the smiles and the laughter, you know, brightening somebody’s day.”
But when these uniforms of joy started to get tethered and worn down, the holes and distress didn’t hold Homeyer back from doing what he loves best, which caught the attention of his co-worker and friend:
“That’s all I want to do is to get him some new suits — I just want to help him out,” said Homeyer’s coworker, Robert Miller.
“It’s all about him and him being happy, because you don’t get a lot people doing stuff like that bringing joy to people’s hearts like that.”
When it comes to new costume ideas, there’s a few that come to mind.
“My wife is the Grinch, that’s her thing. I want him to get a Baby Yoda suit — I love Baby Yoda.”
No matter what Homeyer dresses up as, as long as he’s making the community grin from ear-to-ear, that’s all that matters.
“If you’re able to make somebody smile, do it,” Homeyer said.
“It’s a God-given gift — if you can somebody else smile, then you can do it.”
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